rofl *thumbs up*
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Misunderstood Movies (stolen from reddit, 2001 Space Odyssee welcome)
- Thread starter RustyNails
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rofl *thumbs up*
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
A film Unfinished
It is not about how Nazis manufactured propaganda, its about how you cannot separate the manufactured parts of history from reality and how you need the same tricks used by the Nazis to tell the audience what is true.
During the first half of the film, you are exposed to images that are contradicted by stories in survivors diaries, very much exposing how the unfinished Nazi documentary was staged to contrast the poverty of some Jews in the ghetto with the rich Jews of the ghetto.
Nevertheless at the end, you are exposed to a mass grave of malnourished cadavers that died in the ghetto, suggesting that the very artifice of staging the film is the reality of history you want to preserve because the audience has now to realize that the horrors of the holocaust are still very much true.
All this is presented by having an actor play the German cameraman that shot the film and confessing to the camera.
It is not about how Nazis manufactured propaganda, its about how you cannot separate the manufactured parts of history from reality and how you need the same tricks used by the Nazis to tell the audience what is true.
During the first half of the film, you are exposed to images that are contradicted by stories in survivors diaries, very much exposing how the unfinished Nazi documentary was staged to contrast the poverty of some Jews in the ghetto with the rich Jews of the ghetto.
Nevertheless at the end, you are exposed to a mass grave of malnourished cadavers that died in the ghetto, suggesting that the very artifice of staging the film is the reality of history you want to preserve because the audience has now to realize that the horrors of the holocaust are still very much true.
All this is presented by having an actor play the German cameraman that shot the film and confessing to the camera.
Aren't the bugs in Starship Troopers meant to represent AIDS or communists or something? I recall reading those theories a long time back.
I doubt it, just because someone has a theory doesn't mean that's all they believe. Besides, film is art. It's meant to be interpreted and have an effect on people. Analyzing what you consume teaches you critical thinking and creativity. Especially as someone who creates films or art in general, stuff like this is important because this is an exploration into how people understand the world around them. Also, it's fun to have an imagination.
Count Dookkake
Member
No.
ThLunarian
Member
I think I have a blind spot for recognizing metaphors and underlying themes on my own. Most of the movies' themes listed in this thread were things I'd never even thought to consider, even the ones that people are saying were really obvious. Like, the nazis cheering for American deaths as the audience cheered for nazi deaths? Totally lost on me until I read this thread. Same for Napoleon Dynamite, 12 Monkeys, and almost all the rest. The only one I did pick up on beforehand was 500 Days of Summer.
Im not sure how to get better at this, but I'd like to.
Im not sure how to get better at this, but I'd like to.
vas_a_morir
Banned
Yes.
bigboss370
Member
I kinda thought this stuff about 2001 as I was watching it.
Guess that kinda makes me feel special
with how slow and deliberate that movie is I think everything was supposed to think that stuff as they're watching it.
The bugs in the book were pretty thinly veiled commentary on communists, yes.
Count Dookkake
Member
I'm gonna sound pretentious as fuck, but that "deep interpretation" was incredibly obvious from the start...
I don't know as i didn't watch the movie but i thought that was part of that videos point was he was surprised so many people (Especially critics) didn't see it at all.
I seriously can't believe that...
The movie makes a freaking "swooosh IMGOINGINSIDETHECHARACTERMIND" sound everytime the action sequences start, the character even closes their eyes and the camera makes a zoom in.
And there's a lot of sexual (and rape) innuendos and lust from the male characters toward the females. I can't believe people missed that... it was my first reading... and I'm dumb as a brick analyzing movies.
And well, about the "criticism towards the audience", I guess that didn't take me by surprise, because I went to the movie with certain "shame"... being a 30 year old dude watching those girls in those outfits, I felt like awkward and unconfortable the whole movie :/
and don't get me wrong, not in the "gay" way... more like in a "pedophile" way.
afternoon delight
Member
Yesssss, something to this effect has always been my thinking as well. Since it starts and ends in complete isolation, with some plot inconsistencies or oddities in between that have to be intentional, I believe it's meant to be some sublime trip into surreal hell.
And it's fucking awesome.
Dandy Crocodile
Member
500 Days of Summer for sure. I could write essays about how misinterpreted it is, especially when people place blame on Summer herself.
Looking at the IMDB message boards is just depressing sometimes. Now matter how obvious something is in a movie, it will inevitably fly right over the head of a large amount of people.
Some of the worst I can remember off hand is the board for the Josie and the Pussycats movie. There are tons of posts about how bad the product placement is in the movie, and how the director should be ashamed of themselves.
Some of the worst I can remember off hand is the board for the Josie and the Pussycats movie. There are tons of posts about how bad the product placement is in the movie, and how the director should be ashamed of themselves.
I'm exactly the same way. I completely miss the subtext in most films. I've seen that Inglourious Basterds theater scene 4 or 5 times and the irony of it never occurred to me before. 500 Days of Summer is way more obvious though since the movie is very clear about what it's saying.
b&jy77VjiKn$#F
Member
Good vids.
PhoenixSFT
Member
A deeper interpretation does not a better movie make.
Because you're wrong. It is a neat theory though, enough that I wish it was true.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I don't know that I agree with those generous interpretations of Sucker Punch. I know a few people who worked on the film, and they, at least, thought they were making a big sexy video game of a movie. The rapey misogyny of the movie probably is just a bad consequence of trying to make something titillating.
True.
The movie is a slow burn and a epic and it's great to watch.
Oh god this is so fucking obvious how could they completely miss the point of the movie?
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
There is no theorizing necessary, it is very clear that the arachnids are an allegory for communism. They are intelligent, tool-wielding and technologically advanced, as a species. They use beam weapons, rather than swarming melee attacks, and have spaceships.
The differences between this and the movie are mainly because the film wasn't supposed to be a Starship Troopers film, it was supposed to be "Bug Hunt at Outpost 9", and the ST license was attached during development.
I wish they would have kept the name so that a movie based on the books could be released.
ThisWreckage
Banned
I love the Eyes Wide Shut chess theory.
lastplayed
Member
I think it benefits from a few rewatches. I recently saw it again and the spiritual aspect was pretty strong, it hardly seemed about aliens at all.
Riposte
Member
Well it seems like fun after the fact that can easily overshadow the immersive experience of watching a film, "being there" so to speak. Given what these (and all) interpretations are, that is, the creation of meaning by the viewer, it seems silly people get into a stink over the fact people see something like Scarface as a purely pleasurable power fantasy.
Space Odyssey interpretations always annoy me, because it seems like most people can't help but differ to the novel's account of the events (especially when explaining that last half hour). A story doesn't always have to be about a series of events, and this seems to end up confusing a lot of people as they desperately grasp for something literal in what is supposed to entirely be figurative. This is especially noticeable when the figurative rears its ugly head in entries of slightly less 'literary' genres.
Also one time I watched Mystery Team while very stoned and had this horrific revelation that the characters were retarded. By the end of the movie the feeling was gone (both the intoxication as well as the notion about the protagonists), but it made the movie very, very different. There's even that scene at the bowling alley where they keep messing with the group of normal people, everyone is willing to sort of put up with them except for one guy, and when that guy leaves he acts like he knows he's doing something wrong but was pushed to the end of his patience.
Also one time I watched Mystery Team while very stoned and had this horrific revelation that the characters were retarded. By the end of the movie the feeling was gone (both the intoxication as well as the notion about the protagonists), but it made the movie very, very different. There's even that scene at the bowling alley where they keep messing with the group of normal people, everyone is willing to sort of put up with them except for one guy, and when that guy leaves he acts like he knows he's doing something wrong but was pushed to the end of his patience.
Darth Pinche
Member
I think I need to rewatch this. When I did see I barely paid attention but it did seem like it was all about spirituality and the aliens seems to come out of nowhere.
b&jy77VjiKn$#F
Member
Just because they worked on the film doesn't mean they know everything about it. I agree that it's a bad/mediocre film. Zack Snyder did try to do something, and failed miserably. The movie has blurred the entire face of his career, and MoS being mixed between opinions did not help at all. However, for those who can watch and can be interested in the movie (me included), they may find it interesting. One example, through reading the Sucker Punch OT and its recent LTTP, would be member Count Dookkake. He/her seems to really like the movie with a passion:
oh, of course... the movie still sucks.
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
I have a not particularly surprising or clever theory about The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. It's not about three men in search of gold, it's about the battle for Tuco's (and by extension humanity's) soul.... not unlike Platoon, thinking about it.
Chiaroscuro
Member
I actually enjoyed 6th Sense, can watch it several times. But when I saw Unbreakable in the theater, I was like "this again?" near the end. By the time I reach less than 1/3 of the viewing time of the Village, I already guessed the whole plot thus making the rest of movie very pointless. I stopped watching his movies after Signs.
RustyNails
Member
Kinda surprised by lack of There Will Be Blood or more Paul Thomas Anderson movies. I thought he was big on imagery.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
The thing that cinches it for me is that I can't think of any other reason for the whole brothel-strip-tease-whatever thing to exist. I mean, the whole framing of it as a fantasy while she's in a mental institution is a bit weird as well, but really why does the brothel level fantasy exist? I can't come up with anything besides servicing this theme we've been discussing.
To Far Away Times
Member
I thought this one was fairly heavy handed. Surprised more people didn't catch on.
greycolumbus
The success of others absolutely infuriates me.
I don't think many critics missed it. Favorable critical analyses after the fact fail to realize that Sucker Punch simply wasn't a compelling or tactful film despite heavy themes (like this). Snyder has a history of making bad, loaded films what with Watchmen.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Are many people trying to argue for it favorably though? I'm certainly not making an argument for its quality, just for what I think it was trying to express.
To Far Away Times
Member
Yeah, I got the themes and all that, it was just a shit movie. One of the worst I've ever seen.
greycolumbus
The success of others absolutely infuriates me.
I like to think not, but I do believe it's a cult film in the making.
br0ken_shad0w
Member
The extended cut of Sucker Punch basically spells out the movie's themes for you. Too bad that wasn't in the theatrical run.
I don't know about imagery, but my mother saw "The Master" and within 15 minutes of the opening she said it was the most perfectly realized vision of the 1940s/1950s that she had ever seen.
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